Can You Keep Your Promise?
by cucumbermelonslice
Summary: Re-envisioned sexual tensions and Doujou POV from in and out of the books. Once again, intended sexual tensions. Ohoho.
1. Hot or Cold?

The low tone in his own voice surprised him. His reply came out more softly than he expected.

_"You've grown up."_

The consequences of saying those words were like the casting of a spell.

His subordinate had matured. Doujou thought he had always have been careful to know his subordinates. What there weaknesses and strengths laid, their doubts and confidence, their over well-being. But by the time he actually became fully conscious of Iku's progress as a Task force member and his subordinate, Doujou realized he was indeed flustered at how fast Iku seemed drift farther and farther away the aggressive, hot-headed idiot she used to be.

The recognition of that fact could never be taken away either. Doujou had a feeling that it was something he had not wanted to know for a while now. However, Doujou had gradually come to face that fact and saw it for itself. The tone of those words he spoke reflected his acceptance of that.

Before, though, it used to be was like walking in the dark. Doujou wasn't sure of what he should or how he should react in In those moments when Iku's improvements became so frighteningly clear. Praise her? If her maturity hadn't shown in the most sudden of times he would, and eventually had, giving her a smile that he had, unknowingly, began to make her eyes quickly avert to the tiled floors of the library and the rising and depression of her chest grow a bit faster.

What was living behind that smile?

Doujou knew that he felt pride and admiration, confidently. After all, who wouldn't of a good subordinate? But something much more heavy, stronger lurked behind that expression that Doujou would never admit to Komaki or even, himself, if its nature was asked. Even he knew that he was walking a fine line between a superior and some other unknown role he hadn't want to identify. If known, well...Doujou's thoughts hadn't dared tread that far.

And so, for now, he abided by fine lines and had hesitantly, but nonetheless acknowledged, Iku's growth when he perceived it. Nowadays he seemed more sensitive to her changed self because he picked it up in more subtle actions of hers, like the time when she bothered to tip-toe around the fact that he was short when they cleaning Inamine's house in an attempt to show consideration, or the doubtfulness she expressed that they would be able to reach Library Base now that they were fleeing from the Media Better-ment Agency with Touma, the enemy's person of interest in their backseat, which showed her understanding of the gravity of the circumstances that beheld them.

* * *

Regardless of Kasahara's progress, there was always something that he could still help her, and that brought on an urge to aid her. Doujou was her superior, and it was exactly why he was there above her in rank in the first place. It was his duty.

But duty exactly didn't seem to be there when Iku had surely but gently wrapped her fingers around his. In the darkness of the flying shipping container, what Doujou thought to be an only slight questionable action for a superior officer to do to their subordinate in distress, his light covering of her hand over his, turned right to run straight across that fine line and it delved into a an airy, gloating weight that nestled into his own chest. But fine lines didn't matter right then. She responded to him, and it was pleasing. More than pleasing. Whether it was because he knew her nervousness was lessened, or that her fingers had willingly clutched his, or both, Doujou hadn't known because he decided that recognition was a dangerous spell to cast and sought to stay away from it. He wanted to be close but being close lead to things that needed to be mentioned.

And so, as briefly as Doujou clutched Iku's fingers and palm a bit tighter, he also allowed the slow crawl of coldness seep back into his hand after he let go.

* * *

First fic ever. I don't know if I'm doing this well...but will edit if I can find a better way to express this OTP of mine.


	2. Sleeping Beauty Got Me Tongue-Tied

_"In this day and age, I can't just say that no parent would ever hate their child. But in your case, I can guarantee this: you are loved, even if your mother is a bit obnoxious about it."_

On the bus ride to Ibaraki, those words in Doujou's head seemed nothing particularly strange or inappropriate. But when he said them out loud, he couldn't help but feel that he said something he shouldn't have said because, even though he wasn't looking at Kasahara directly, Doujou felt her intently eyes on him. The sense of unsettlement in simply telling Iku a person loves her brought suddenly became so palpable, he was glad Komaki or even the super-dense Tedzuka was not here to witness it.

_Ah, as her superior office, I had no business in saying that._ Not knowing what else to do, he retreated as much as he could when the person center of his embarrassment was only a few inches away, and attempted the near impossible task of getting comfortable in a place where he suddenly felt exposed.

_What is this? God. This doesn't even make sense._ A quick flash of heat surfaced to his face and he knew that if he didn't turn his head now, it would only make him want to crawl into a hole even more. It might have been a strange thing for an officer to say, to make an remark intimate in nature about their subordinate's familial relationship, but why should he feel flustered for it? "I guarantee you are loved." It was the truth wasn't it?

Doujou snatched a glance at Iku, while still annoyed at his lack of reasoning for his response at her reaction._ It is that impossible, you idiot!? Get that stupefied look off your face!_ Iku's expression was a cross between surprise and...softness? The passionate defensiveness and stubbornness Iku displayed when she had been talking about her mother had suddenly melted into a display that just made him heat up even more.

"I'm going to sleep!" _I need an escape. Now._

* * *

Doujou didn't escape anytime soon.

An hour later Iku's head was heavy against the top shoulder, resting in the crook between the base of his neck and left shoulder.

_Well, shit._

This was partly his fault. Since they both had suddenly become quiet after Doujou's seemingly innocent remark, Iku quickly started to fall asleep, while he wasn't able to. Instead, to his slight amusement, he spent some time seeing Iku's head nod several times in her lethargy, her eyes firmly shut.

Eventually, one nod cause her body to kneel forward till her forehead bumped hard into the seat in front of her. Luckily, the seat had belonged to Genda and he was already far into dreamland, snoring just as loudly as he was when he's awake. Genda obviously wasn't disturbed, and from Doujou came an exhausting thought, _Can that geezer ever be quiet in his lifetime?_

Immediately after from across the aisle, Doujou heard a quick snort from Komaki. Apparently Komaki found Kasahara's little sleep dance culminating to a heavy thump with her forehead and a seat a short-lived sensation to his funny bones. Doujou lifted his index finger and thumb to rub the wrinkle that appeared at his temple. "I'm working with a bunch of idiots," he murmured to himself, his voice reflecting his annoyance.

Iku's only response was to drowsily place a hand folded into a tight fist under her chin, with the same arm's elbow balancing on their shared arm rest. _Oh?_ Doujou wondered if Iku finally solved the problem of finding a posture to sleep peacefully. Just as he was taking in her new form in light interest, he heard another chuckling sound from Komaki.

This time, Doujou leaned slightly forward in his window seat to see past Iku's reclining figure to make eye contact with that other figure across the aisle. Komaki was smirking, the corners of his mouth making a fine line and his eyes gleamed as he returned Doujou's glance.

_What the hell is he all dandy about?_ Komaki quickly gave Doujou a..._was that a fucking wink!?_ The smirking onlooker gave a dismissive wave of the hand, the gesture telling Doujou to go back to whatever he was doing, as he turned back to his own interests on his cellphone.

Knowing Komaki's antics whenever he had that playing facade as a face, Doujou immediately switched into high guard and alert mode, and his looking over to Komaki's now detached posture turned into a glare. Knowing from past experience, it had something to do with him and Kasahara.

_What in god's name does he think he is seeing between me and her-oh._

_Go back to whatever you are doing...staring intently at Kasahara, that is._

Komaki's expressions said it all.

Oh...

_OH._

It also showed Doujou probably had, to what Komaki thought, a pretty interesting expression on his face while looking at her.

"WHAT THE HELL!" he cursed loudly inside his head.

The realization dawned upon him as abruptly as his face paled before turning hot once again. Doujou sharply turned to sit properly back into his seat. _Fuck..no. That's not what was happening. _He grimaced.

Doujou searched for jusification that it wasn't what at all in the nature that Komaki seemed to be suggesting with that stupid wink and familiar smirk of his. _I wasn't doing anything for you to be worth to be winking for, you idiot!_ This bus ride seemed more mentally tiring than it should have been.

But...the reason for Doujou's sudden anger was his confusion at his inability to deny that he was, indeed, not staring at her altogether. And, he wasn't able to set upon a facial expression, a thought or line of reasoning inside his head to get that stupid growing warmth that lightly clouded his face.

Doujou decided to try feign sleep in an attempt to put away the unsettled thought processes upon the things Komaki's subtle gestures just had to suggest. Hopefully, faking sleep could lead to the real thing; that could make him forget of this abrupt self-consciousness that descended suddenly from the blue (for the second time today). It seemed likely that Doujou could get his mind back together if he sensed time had passed after he would wake up.

Out of habit of sleeping on his left side, Doujou placed his left elbow on the seat's arm rest, forgetting that Iku's own arm had just recently been settled there, too.

By sliding his own elbow at the back of the rest, he unintentionally pushed hers off the rest altogether only by moving her elbow (that was situated at the front end of the rest) a smudge, and the fragile balance of Iku's arm-head-folded hand posture was broken. The sudden lack of support for her head caused it to fall downwards in the opposite direction. So, instead of running into Genda's seat, her forehead bumped and fitted not so gently into the angle of the base of Doujou's neck and left shoulder.

He jumped.

Doujou eyes shot open, before promptly shutting again. The crease between his brows deepened, and he was sure that even though he just lost the warmth to his face from Komaki's insinuations, the heat just resurfaced to his ears._  
_

_Well, now I'm the only one just really screwing myself this time._ The reason why he should feel like he was in trouble at her sudden movement he didn't dare think about. That would lead to the full recongition of something he just wasn't ready to completely acknowledge yet.

Doujou's thoughts turned into a slight panic that Iku might have waken up, and then that would mean Doujou would be in a situation that he wouldn't be able to explain. He didn't have confidence that he could use his signature face-mask to portray a carefully blank or exceedingly neutral expression whenever he had to keep the feelings of inner turmoil in place, at the very moment.

To check if the jolt awakened her, he glanced down, and Doukou could only see the top of Iku's head and a few teasing parts of her face. The tufts of coffee-colored hair, and a slanted aerial view of her face: the gentle bridge of her nose, the highest points of her colored cheekbones, the darken wings of her eyelashes, and her lightly shaded lips.

_No._

_Fuck no._

_This should not be happening._

Oh yeah, she was sleeping, alright. Doujou could see that. Iku was slowing inhaling through her nose, but she exhaled a slow whistle of air from her mouth. If Doujou kept looking at her face from above, he was all the more drawn to her lips because she kept that annoyingly distractive repetition of blowing air slowly out of her mouth over and over again.

The rhythmic sound of her breathing was complimented by the slow rise and fall of her chest and abdomen. Its movement highlighted the slenderless of her torso. She feminine.

Doujou closed his eyes, willing the newly acquired images away from his head. In the process, he lifted his head up, as if trying to gasp for air, and swallowed. Iku's head in return slid more towards the center of his chest to nestle underneath his chin, enabling another curse of the senses to hit and shatter him.

_She smells good._

Doujou could only hope, with his hands tightly cletched, that Komaki or anyone else on the bus wasn't looking at him.

_...__I'm so fucking screwed._

He wasn't going to get sleep any time soon.

* * *

FIRST THINGS FIRST, I APOLOGIZE FOR THE AWKWARD GRAMMAR STRUCTURES OF MINE. This has always been a thing with me.

Ahem.

Oodles of thanks to melithiel for providing translation the toshosen books, in which the first quote Doujou says comes from (Toshokan Kiki). If you hadn't read this part in Kiki, 1. you are missing out and 2. I apologize that this is out of context.

Iku's being seductive without even trying, and considering how much of a otome (virgin) she is...that's pretty awesome. And Doujou, I think you would an oxygen mask after all your malfunctioning this chapter, ha. Komaki is a sly fox as always (but he shall not be laughing in his every appearance I swear, lol, though he does that often in the books). And Genda...you are Genda. No other way to describe a tiger.

Doujou is cursing here...he never severely cursed in the books but I feel like it was fitting here. (Oh, Doujou : )

For future chapters I definitely want to include interactions among characters besides Doujou and Iku (Tedzuka and Shibasaki was sorely missed :/ ) Also, I would love to make up more dialogue where silent gestures aren't enough to express this OTP. I like variety; which also means that I will be writing both re-imagined scenes from the books and some of my own...once I think of them. However, they are more likely to be one shots or snippets of things rather than a chronological story. I have yet to reach the creativity for such things.

Thank you for the first reviews! They were all sweet. :) Special thanks to SheSailsShips, your words especially motivated me. :D

Until next time!


	3. It

Contains smallish spoilers/conversations from Kakumei and Bessatsu I. You are warned.

* * *

"So...did you already do it?"

It had been two months since Doujou was discharged from the hospital, and also since Shibasaki's roommate had been dating her superior. She had picked up their mutual affection a long time before that happened, though. Even if she hadn't had her signature, stunning perception for other people's feelings, or her eagerness for gathering all kinds of information, the forthright nature that showed through their interactions and Iku's simple, romantic character made their feelings obvious. And here they were, sitting at the _kotatsu_ while drinking tea in their dorm room after work, Shibasaki making Iku squirm at an question that was strictly an "adult" topic.

Iku drooped her head slightly down and averted her eyes from Shibasaki's. Instead, she tried to focused on the trails of steam that flowed steadily from the cup of chamomile tea (they had it regularly stocked at their dorm room and the squad's office now) that was folded in her palms. The warmth of the cup, in early February's chill, still not enough for Iku to distract herself the self-consciousness she felt at the question.

_Uwa. She's in investigative mode._

"We're k-kissing," she muttered. Her reply came out a bit muffled as she lifted her tea and touched her mouth to the rim of the cup, a half-determined attempt to hide her face.

Iku apparently thought the "it" Shibasaki was referring to was mouth to mouth contact.

"God, I'd be surprised if you haven't done that much already!" It was clear Iku's maiden naivete was still as prevalent as it was before Iku was dating Doujou. "Am I talking to a high school student?!"

Iku looked up. "I don't even know what you were suggesting..." she countered, unknowingly brandishing her innocence further. Iku gave a small pout before she swathed down a gulp of her warm drink when Shibasaki had a dominating urge to prod her further, and directly speak the unspoken.

"Sex."

Eh.-SPLOOSH.

...And Iku sprayed tea all over Shibasaki's face. Droplets of the liquid could be seen on the woman's cheeks, closed eyelids (a reflex reaction), forehead-just about everywhere Iku had been facing at and more.

It was one of those instances when imagery of the idea was conjured when another had spoken it. That sudden rush of vague images the best her virgin mentality could fantasize was the cause of the unprecendented outburst.

_I guess this is karma._ Shibasaki had cornered Iku into a landmine and inevitably got one of her own. Usually she kept her peace among such things that she knew would get that kind of reaction from her simple-minded easy to read roommate, but teasing her severely on occasion too tempting. That urge brought repercussions for herself this time.

"Aaaahhh! Shibasakiii!" Shibasaki heard Iku standing up and the sound of a drawer opening. "I'm so sorry!" Her face was suddenly mushed with several thick towel as Iku clumsily tried to clean the mess she made on her friend's face while she was still very flustered.

"I can take care of my own face!" Shibasaki asserted, snatched the couple of beige towels from Iku's grip, and started to dab lightly at her cheeks. A few moments of silence passed until Shibasaki turned her attention back to Iku. Her slight annoyance faded as she saw her friend's countenance: Iku was sitting on her ankles, hands clenched tightly on her lap, her face lowered, but not so low enough that Shibasaki couldn't see the deep-reddish pink color that emanated throughout her facial expression.

Shibasaki couldn't stop a light smile from emerging. _At times like this, she's the most adorable._ Iku was so sincere, in the sense she could never mask her feelings, no matter how personal or how much she didn't want others to see them. Shibasaki didn't need to root out information from Iku; Iku already shoved information so bluntly in her face, anyway, unintentionally.

Shibasaki could also easily imagine that Iku showed such shyness in front of Doujou often, now that their were treading on such conditions that he was the one who took the initiative to start more bold advances. _How will she be able to overcome her hesitation when things start to really get physically involved?_ Shibasaki picked up Iku's cup from the other side of the table and refilled it with the fragrant drink to the brim. She took Iku's hands and placed the warming object between them.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you like that."

Iku nodded her head twice gently, forgiving her in the gesture, but was still not able to look at her directly. She drank all in one go, and the cup was empty once more.

The heat from the tea still radiated from the cup, into her palms, even after its contents were gone.

* * *

Ikuuu why are you so cute? :)

English needs more onomatopoeia, like Japanese. Sploosh is just...blargh.

The spoken conversation until 'Am I talking to a high school student?!' was translated from Bessatsu I. The rest was imagined, where my translation skills failed me and I'm too lazy to decode all that kanji on a Chinese handwriting keyboard D:

Next chap I feel should be about kisses. And should also be longer. chu. chu.


	4. Late Night Cellphone Inconvenience

[Incoming Call...Kasahara Iku]

In one moment, a soft blue glow lightly colored the room as a familiar chime played. Besides one empty can of beer was a name he had been half expecting to read. And before the ring sequence had reached its half-way mark, he was pressing his right hand against his ear.

"What's wrong?"

By the time he finished his direct not-so-much of a greeting, Doujou had already taken his legs out of the room's kotatsu and was standing. Iku had Doujou's full attention, and though Doujou expected a distressed tone, he instead found a reply laced with a soft smile and a speck of laughter. A reaction he hadn't seen.

"Hmmn, does something have to be wrong for me to call you?"

"...statistically speaking, yes." _Geez...why would you call if you weren't in trouble?_ It was hard to think of a topic that didn't concern work, advice, or a problem she needed help to get out of-He responded in the sudden situation with that mild retort that had his characteristic curtness. The moment before Iku gave a reply he nestled back unto the floor, and found himself idly toying with the metallic tab of the beer can on top of the kotatsu._ Ah, perhaps_-He frowned slightly.

The crackles of sound that had exploded in the air were still fresh in his mind.

"The prizewinning work you're gunning for is behind me! Shoot if you dare!"

Dare they did.

_She is calling because she's having a hard time. We all are._

After thinking for that moment, there seemed to be a small pause before he heard that familiar voice over the line.

"Apparently, Supervisor Yokota has regained consciousness."

Even at 9 pm, several hours after the Ibaraki base had been notified of Yokota's awakening, Doujou could still hear the deep-toned voices of his other male dorm mates chatting energetically, the sound of their conversations about Yokota's health echoed through the hallways with their doors open.

Doujou had celebrated in kind, though only briefly, with the other members along Komaki until Doujou decided to leave early. Komaki had not returned yet.

"I heard. It's good news."

Another pause.

"Commander Genda...Commander Genda will wake up any minute now."

They say that a flame burns brightest in adversity. Any flicker of hope needed, and had to be captured.

But there was a sad irony, that even in a silver lining there was no denying that there were grand odds against Genda's life. Doujou tore away the tab off the can and let it fell to the floor. It was better to hope for something even in despair, even if that certain, small amount of warmth was difficult to obtain.

On the other end, Iku heard a deep breath. "...Yeah. I'm certain of it."

_No._ Seeing, or rather, hearing the faltering in his voice showed a fissure of emotion that leaked in his facade which led to sudden recognition of her own inner turmoil as well. _No, I don't want to burden him like this, he had his own things to sort out himself_, but the droplets continuously fell unto her pillow, down the side of her scrapped cheek and immersed themselves into the cotton cloth of the her pillow below.

"Yeah...right?" She didn't want to lean on him, but..._Is alright to need someone this once? Even now?_ She hated herself for the inability to be completely dependent, even when it was at this time obviously unreasonable. Iku didn't want to be selfish...but she still needed to be selfish in front of someone so she could confide in them.

"Cry." Doujou laid the palms of his hands against the floor, his arms straight, and titled his head to the ceiling. "Don't try to act brave all the time. Sometimes it is much better to cry than it is to fight." Doujou cleared his throat. "I know you always try to do your best. But more than often you try too hard, and one day you will hurt yourself. So cry."

_So stop making me always with so anxious about you.. and I can't look after you all the time. I cannot even reach you now._ He masked his genuine concern with the casual gruffness.

_I can all too easily imagine what kind of face she is making now._ He saw that face so many times. And though he had gotten used to dealing whenever Iku cried, he still couldn't feel settled or nonchalant when she did, for whatever the reason. But he didn't mind it either, nor did he hesitant to remedy it. This was Iku, particularly pure-in-heart, who he wanted to take care of. He would choose to offer his shoulder, or even his hand, if it meant he could comfort her.

But he couldn't do one single thing with direct contact to help her if she was only over a goddamn phone.

If Iku was there, what would he do?

"...thump. I bopped you on the head. Now stop crying."

Now stop being heavyhearted. I'm here.

Silence. And then a burst of colorful, feminine laughter.

_What!?_

"N-no...no fair! Someone who's so damn serious all the time shouldn't be allowed something so stupid..."

It wasn't that amusing, idiot! Instead of a tender change in countenance in his attempt to cheer her, he surprisingly received a boisterous return. Doujou was peeved because the remark he just made was ironically more serious than Iku thought he had intended. Their reactions were unexpected on both ends.

But then came a tone he never would have even dreamed of, at the very least, in the nature or the minimalism of the conversation they just had.

"Anyway, Kasahara prefers to be patted on the head."

Her voice was so incredibly sweet, Doujou wasn't sure he could recall Iku speaking in such a way ever before. He also couldn't help the flashing, momentary image that sprung into his head-a quick hit of a ephemeral fantasy.

Instead of the usual center placement of his hand on top of her head, he saw it placed near to the side of her hair. A brilliant smile, with her small teeth showing, and she was looking directly at him, her head leaning towards his touching palm.

Her mouth had opened, "...hey, Instructor..."

And just as abruptly, the image went away and in an instance Doujou realized Iku's vocal phrase he thought he had just conjured was actually her continuing on the phone.

It was a seemingly innocent image, but he still felt a strange lost of words, and simply waited for her to finish.

"..don't worry so much about me, okay?" Though her voice was no longer teasing, it still hid that dazzling smile.

"I'll worry however I want."

And with that, he firmly shut the cover of his phone.

* * *

Komaki had stayed away from their room in order to give Doujou some space (since he, too, was constantly thinking of Genda) and was half expecting to return to a Doujou contemplatively staring absently into the wall, drinking another beer.

So when he came back at about 9:35, and saw Doujou rather had his head laid on his pillow, the back of his hands covering his forehead and eyes, and a cellphone clutched in one of the hands, Komaki couldn't think of it as anything but curious, maybe even a little amusing.

He knew Doujou only hid his face when he was truly embarrassed.

"Got a late night cal-?"

"Shut up!"

And before he could allow Komaki to sprout another word, Doujou sprung from his bed and swiftly interjected, "I'm getting more beers!" And left, the door forgotten to be closed.

* * *

Done by request and it sure was fun! I hope you enjoyed it.

I also hope I'm not making this too romantic, hoho. Let me know if I am, or any other constructive critique or comments.

In other things, I'm slowly trying to read Bessatsu I, and boy is it mushy and romantic and funny and turning me into goo. GOSH ARIKAWA-SAN.


End file.
